STORRS — Sophomore Kentan Facey got a reward for his preseason work: a starting assignment in the exhibition opener against Southern. Now, the task is keeping it.

"I just saw nine rebounds in 18 minutes," coach Kevin Ollie said, "and that's pretty damn good. I was real excited about that, it was just that [Southern] went to five guards and they were shooting a lot of threes, I just couldn't play him the amount of minutes. But if he got nine rebounds in 18 minutes in a regular season game against the forwards, he would have been playing a lot more minutes."

The Huskies play their second exhibition game against Assumption College at the XL Center on Sunday at noon.

Facey's freshman year was frustrating at times. He did not play much, although he did show flashes of productivity when he got into one-sided games — 10 points against South Florida, nine rebounds against Maine.

Ollie sent him out with Daniel Hamilton, Amida Brimah, Rodney Purvis and Ryan Boatright against Southern on Tuesday, and came away delighted with the rebounding of his frontline.

UConn took on SCSU in an exhibition game at Gampel Pavilion Tuesday night.

"I've been working hard in practice," Facey said. "To get that, it means I earned it, so I wasn't surprised. I was working toward something."

Last season, Shabazz Napier led UConn in rebounding until the national championship game, when DeAndre Daniels passed him, 6.0 to 5.9. Ollie has used it as a challenge to his big men, and they responded against a Southern team that outrebounded the Huskies last year. Facey and Daniel Hamilton each had nine rebounds and Amida Brimah got 11. Off the bench, freshman Rakim Lubin got four in seven minutes during the 70-62 victory.

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Every game is a learning experience, for those who play and those who watch. In the aftermath of UConn's 70-62 win over Southern in the first exhibition game on Tuesday night, here's what we learned:

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(DOM AMORE)

"He challenged us to ensure that the bigs took that role to lead us in rebounding," Facey said. "He said there was no way a guard should ever lead the team in rebounding ever again. So we took it upon ourselves to make that happen."

Hamilton couldn't find his scoring touch, but the nine rebounds kept him on the floor. "He's so active right now, I have to keep telling him to calm down a little bit, which is great," Ollie said.

Lubin, at 265 pounds, is the brawniest guy on the team, and he showed the instinct for rebounding that attracted UConn coaches to him. "If it's two minutes, two rebounds, whatever it takes," Lubin said.

Facey has been working on his offensive skills, including his jumper. He's working on 15 feet and closer to the basket.

Calhoun Shooting

Omar Calhoun, who has been out with a sprained MCL in his right knee since Oct. 26, has resumed shooting. He won't play against Assumption, but the season-opener against Bryant on Friday is still possible. "If he's not 100 percent for the [opener], he can just join us in Puerto Rico," Ollie said. The Huskies play their second, third and fourth games at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off beginning Nov. 20. … Assumption finished 7-19 last season, but returns seven of its top eight scorers. The top scorer is Terrance Bobb-Jones, a 6-4 guard who transferred early in his career from Quinnipiac and averaged 17 points for the Greyhounds last year. … Ollie said UConn missed 15 layups against Southern. "And we showed them all [on film]," he said. "If you make 10 of those layups, you're shooting 52 percent. We want to be a fastbreak team, and there were a ton of fastbreak opportunities we didn't convert. We want to get better at that."